Question

10 month old not clapping or waving bye

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My son will be 10 months old in a week. Up to now, he shows no interest in waving hello or bye nor clapping his hands. My husband and I try to model it for him numerous times daily, but he does not imitate us. He seems typical in every other areas of development. He is engaging: he smiles and makes eye contact. He tries to grab the attention of every stranger we meet by "flirting" with them. He is growing healthy and strong. He even just started taking his first few steps. Should I be concerned about this?

Mom Answers

I wouldn't worry. Our baby clapped fairly early, around 8 months, but didn't start waving until after 11. They go at their own pace and I'm sure your baby is ahead of the "roadmap" in other areas. Our son was into one thing at a time in terms of development.

I don't have an answer for you but my son is 9-1/2 months old and is not clapping either. He does everything else but we can't get him to clap. I am not too worried. I think if your son is taking steps that means he is ahead of the game a little in tat are and maybe just a little behind in others. All babies go at their own pace, so I would just wait it out and it will come.

well i wrote last when my baby was 10 months old, he is now 18 months and claps and waves, plays like a big boy, and tries to keep up with the older kids, he climbs, feeds himself, talks. I think for me it had nothing to do with autism. I believe it was because he was a breastfed baby and never took or held a bottle.

My son is like that as well except he does the waving. He's going to be one here pretty soon and we always clap around him. He just shows no interest in it. I don't know if I should be worried or not. :(

My son is 13 months old and he doesn't wave or point. But then there was never a need to point or wave as he only has me and so he never had a chance to wave to anyone. His temperment is easy going by affectionate, I'm not concerned as he neve gave me much stress and is very attached to me. I'm enjoying his learning pace and won't let anyone's negative comments stress me out.

My son is 13 months old and he doesn't wave or point. But then there was never a need to point or wave as he only has me and so he never had a chance to wave to anyone. His temperment is easy going by affectionate, I'm not concerned as he neve gave me much stress and is very attached to me. I'm enjoying his learning pace and won't let anyone's negative comments stress me out.

I am continuing my answer from above about the comments made about the autistic children. It is one thing to point out the website that shows the COMPLETE checklist of characteristics of an autistic child. I agree that parents should be aware of the signs. However, every baby reaches milestones at different times, while some may be reached earlier than the time line guidelines, others may be reached after the time line guidelines. As long as your baby is meeting most of the items on the autism checklist then there is no reason to worry and you should enjoy your perfect child. By tying 1,000 characters of your child being autistic bc he/she does not wave or clap does not give readers the complete story of your child. You cannot compare your babies to any one else because they are all different. The myasdf.org website has the checklists and what to look for. Please don't let those two posts scare you into thinking your child is autistic bc she/he not waving or clapping.

My sister works with autistic children every day. I have an 11 month old son who does not clap or wave. However, he does a lot of other things that are not characteristics of an autistic child, such as eye contact with me and others, constantly looking to make sure I am close to him while he is playing, reaching out for me to hand him a toy or to give a toy to me, reaching out to be held, making noise for me to look at him, turning to me when he hears my voice or I call his name (most of the time), not fixating on a certain object, banging toys together after he watches me do it. There is ALOT of characteristics professionals look at when determining whether a child is autistic. I read the two posts about the children that did not wave or clap and are now autistic and I am sorry to hear that. If my sister was not in the profession of working with autistic children, after reading those posts I would have been unnecessarily concerned. (continued below)

my baby is 9 1/2 months and he isnt clapping yet either. Waved a few times but not often. I was concerned about this to. I even try teaching him to blow kisses and he shows no interest. Should I be worried. The Autism comment scared me. I do not think my baby has Autism.

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